How the Collaborative Inquiry Model Aligns with the Ontario Leadership Framework (OLF)

Collaborative inquiry is a professional learning protocol that empowers educators to be self-directed learners by providing them with a rewarding professional learning experience. Teams of educators come together to question, gather relevant evidence, create action plans, and analyze the results, all for student success. In Collaborative Inquiry, A Facilitator's Guide, many educational leaders such as Reeves (2010), Katz, Earl and Ben Jafar (2009), Stoll (2010) are quoted to "promote collaborative inquiry as a strategy for strengthening teaching and learning." In the Ontario Leadership Framework, there are many leadership practices that align with the collaborative inquiry model of professional development. These are some explicit connections:

• Building collaborative cultures and distributing leadership
• Structuring the organization to facilitate collaboration
• Stimulating growth in the professional capacities of staff
• Building staff member's sense of internal accountability

The collaborative inquiry model creates opportunities for the principal, the instructional leader, to build a culture of collaboration at various levels of the organization. Though this collaborative inquiry focuses on improving the instructional program, it also demonstrates how various stakeholders and agencies come together to commit to a shared vision of the school.